


(soldier) keep on marching on

by starbucks22



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Gen, Happy Ending, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Post-Season/Series 03
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-05
Packaged: 2020-07-31 17:41:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20119036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starbucks22/pseuds/starbucks22
Summary: After the events of season 3, the whole world is taking a breather. With all the free time to try and relax without the risk of attack, people figure out more about themselves, mend old relationships, strengthen new ones, and learn that some people really can be trusted.





	(soldier) keep on marching on

**Author's Note:**

> Around the 800 word mark I just kinda went "what the fuck this thing is gonna be long."
> 
> Oh, rated T for occasional curses, by the way.
> 
> And I apologize for all the typos.

Glimmer didn't leave her room for a week. 

Which, really, nobody could blame her for. Everyone who knew the reality of the situation gave her all the space she needed, while they tried to figure out what to tell the public.

After all, people are bound to be suspicious when they don't hear from the queen or her daughter for a solid week.

"What are we going to say?" 

"I don't know, Adora." Bow looked up to see his friend pacing back and forth. 

"We have to say _something._ It's been a week. People are starting to talk."

He shrugged. "Then let them talk. We shouldn't do anything until Glimmer wants to."

"Yeah. Yeah, I know. You're probably right. I'm just nervous and... sad, that's all." 

"We all are. Obviously neither of us will announce anything yet, but maybe you could go out as She-ra so people won't get nervous?" 

Adora face palmed and continued her pacing around the room. 

"Why didn't I think of that?! I should have done that days ago. That's a good idea though, thanks Bow." 

The idea was indeed a good one, but Adora never ended up doing it. The next day, before she actually could go through with it, Glimmer decided to leave her room. 

"Glimmer!" Bow yelled out, rushing over to scoop his small friend up in a hug. 

"Hey, Bow. I just came out for something to eat."

The previously worried look on his face intensified. 

"Wait, did you eat at all before now?" 

"Yeah, of course I did. My room has a mini-fridge."

"Since when? You've never had a fridge before." 

"Since last week. People get things done quickly when they're panicked." The girl took a quick breath and continued talking on before she could get interrupted. "Speaking of panicked, has anyone heard from the other princesses?" 

"Lots of them. Mermista and Frosta, specically," Adora replied. "They're both here, actually. They want to see you." 

"Since when?" 

"Since when have they wanted to see you?" The girl asked, confused. 

"No. Since when have they been here?" 

"Oh! Right. Uh, Frosta got here two days ago. Mermista arrived yesterday." 

Glimmer nodded. "Aunt Casta?" 

There was a brief silence between the three as Adora and Bow shot glances and shrugs at each other.

"No," they finally settled on.

"We... kind of haven't told her anything," Bow admitted. "I think she's completely in the dark. All she knows is that things and people started disappearing from reality and suddenly it got fixed." 

"I should probably fill her in. Probably let everyone else know. It's just so soon since Mom... yeah. Anyway."

"We can help! Adora and I can spread the word if that's what you want to do." 

"That would be great, Bow, but people are going to think you're starting a rumor. That's the last thing I need right now."

"Wha- a rumor? I'm your _best friend! _I'm like, the second most reliable source of information people can get right now!" 

Glimmer smiled and went to pat her friend's shoulder, despite the fact that she was likely the one who actually needed the comfort. "Yeah, but not everyone knows that."

"I could say something for you guys," Adora chimed in. "I could show up as She-ra like Bow suggested. That could work, right?" 

"Maybe, but no. I probably have to make an official statement and all that. You guys will come with me when I make it, right?" 

"Of course!"

She didn't seem too convinced, even as she nodded. "Promise?" 

There was no hesitation as the two answered her question.

"Promise." 

*****

Catra knew she fucked up.

She fucked up, and she knew it, but she chose to almost destroy all of reality. And for what? To make Adora upset? 

Adora has always been a constant. In childhood, as her only friend. As the two got older and closer, trusting each other always. Adora was even a constant as the two battled on opposite sides of the war. If Catra was around, Adora was too, even if she had to be She-ra. 

But then Catra tried to destroy the world, and it was as if a switch was flipped. 

The coldness and silent fury in Adora's eyes was unfamiliar and _wrong._ Whenever the two fought, there could be anger and frustration seen, sure. Desperation and sadness, maybe. Sometimes, even fondness. Even after all that.

The coldness and anger was something that she's never seen from Adora before, never to that extent. 

And never aimed at her. 

Catra chuckled humorlessly as she recalled what she said back in the Crimson Waste. She didn't have anything anymore. She lost it all. 

It hadn't been true at the time. Now it was.

Well, you know what they say. You don't know what you have until it's gone.

On that note, Scorpia could be partially included in that statement.

The girl had a huge crush on Catra, and the girl knew it. Used that to her advantage, used the other girl's affection to get whatever she could. After everything, though, something changed.

Just a bit, not enough to be drastic, but enough that you hardly had to pay any attention at all to notice. 

"Hey, what's up with the Cat girl and the scorpion lady?" 

A cadet shrugged at her friend as they gossiped in the halls. "I don't know. One's name is Scorpia, right? That girl was downright obsessed with the other one. Something's definitely off now, though. When was the last time Scorpia squealed over her?" 

"...That's a good question, actually. I'm sure not gonna ask them, though. I'm sure they'd rip me to pieces and that does _not _sound fun, thanks."

(If they had just asked, like another cadet eventually did, they would have gotten a shrug and a sad sounding- "She's just not the same anymore.")

*****

Glimmer has to prepare to get crowned Queen of Brightmoon in a ceremony that occurs only weeks after announcing her mother's death. People were persistent that the girl should have a larger coronation instead of the smaller one that she had requested, but a few icy glares from Frosta certainly helped matters on that front.

"Ugh, who needs some old stuffy party anyway?" Mermista groaned as she hung upside down from a pink chair. The teenager kicked her legs around and huffed, rolling her eyes at the clock above. "Those things are soooo boring. You show up, follow a bunch of rules and use your manners. You wear a stupid dress and you act like you don't wanna punch everyone in the face. You show up and you let someone put a stupid crown on your head. The whole thing is obnoxious and tiring and _sad. _Like, if the actual princess doesn't wanna be there, why do it, y'know?" 

Frosta nodded her agreement. "Yes. But, unfortunately in all of us, except for maybe Adora, it's required. Somebody has to take over the throne and attend all the ceremonies that comes with it. Speaking of ceremonies, my own coronation was quiet. Well, as quiet as it can be when it's in front of thousands of people, of course. I was only eight at the time, so I had no interest in doing any of it. I made the whole thing as small as I could." 

"I thought princesses only get coronated when they become queens?" Adora questioned absently, throughly distracted in the dresses she was flipping through. She made a face at a black one and tossed it at a empty chair. "Black, no. I can't see Glimmer in black." 

"Well, if something happens to the king and queen, then their child takes over," the youngest of the group informed her. "Then they get a ceremony and they get control of the kingdom."

Adora threw another dress on the chair, a red one that time, before replying. "Then why aren't you and Mermista just queens then?" 

She got a thoughtful frown in response, before the little girl decided to change the topic instead. "Why are you throwing things around?" 

"I'm trying to help Glimmer find something to wear. I know she probably won't care too much about that right now, considering the circumstances, but I want to help her find something she'll like. So far, I'm only finding things in black, white, weird, random designs, or blood red. I don't think any of these are gonna help much." 

Frosta nodded and seemed to accept that, but Mermista squinted ever so slightly at the mess in front of her. Something seemed off about the small dress collection, and for a second or two, she couldn't quite pinpoint why. 

Then it hit her. 

"Ugh, move. Frosta." 

"Why?" 

"You're in the way of the clothing rack."

"Why do you care? You just said-" 

Mermista rolled her eyes and squeezed past the little girl, ignoring the loud "hey!" from behind her. She then let her eyes roam among the clothing items for a few seconds before she finally found what had distracted her so much.

"Are you kidding me. Are you shitting me right now." 

"What is it?" Adora asked innocently from beside her, throwing another outfit down. This time, she saw something shiny attached to it as it fell down. 

"Adora..." Mermista began slowly, waiting for the blonde's attention. Once certain she had it, she grabbed the most recently thrown article of clothing, and passed it back to the blonde. "Tell me, what do you see here?" 

She looked it over. "I see a suit. Glimmer would look nice in a suit. But, like I said, it's black, and it doesn't look right for a ceremony. It's a no go." 

"No... Well, yes, but also no. What's that shiny thing that's sticking to it?"

"Hmm, I'm not sure. It looks like plastic though?" 

Behind the two, Frosta looked like she had caught on, considering the fact that the girl had started shaking her head.

"Adora, how do you not-" 

"Shhh!" came Mermista's loud reply. "Don't say anything. This is a teaching moment."

"We're looking at clothing while we sit outside of a dressing room, waiting for Glimmer to come out and get a dress for a coronation that she doesn't want to go to, on the first month anniversary of her mother's death. Does this look like a teaching moment to you? It would be kind of shitty right now. Screw with Adora another day." 

A long pause. Then, "...Damn you. Wait, shit, don't repeat after me. And don't say shitty. You're literally a baby." 

The child frowned and crossed her arms. "I rule a kingdom."

"Yeah, so do I, shortstack." 

"I can literally freeze you to the spot you're standing at right now." 

Mermista simply raised an unimpressed eyebrow. "I can throw a literal lake in your face right now, small stuff."

"Fuck you." 

She shook her head. "Ah ah ah, that is one: very inappropriate and probably illegal, considering the fact that I'm sixteen and you're like, barely even born, and two-" 

"I- no- that's not what I meant and you know it. I'm cursing at you, damn it." 

"Yeah, I know. Stop cursing at me, you're a literal child! You're like, two years old." 

Frosta had a (not so icy,) glare in her eyes. "I'm eleven so shut the fuck up." 

"Guys?" A confused Adora suddenly called out, interrupting the two from their discussion, "What's going on?" 

"Well," Mermista said, smirking, as she picked up a shiny plastic police badge. "You haven't been looking at formal ceremony dresses. You've been looking at children's Halloween costumes." 

*****

"Hey loser, get in, we're going shopping." 

"Wha- Catra? Why are you here? Why did you send me here? Because I know it wasn't Hordak that did it!" 

"You seem pretty certain about that."

"Of course I am!" Entrapta exclaimed. "He would never. We're lab partners! ...Or at least we were, before you messed things up! So why don't you just leave me alone?" 

"Huh," Catra mumbled under her breath. "I forgot she was capable of human emotions." 

"Of course I am, I'm not Emily! Emily, wherever you are, I'm sorry and I love you- wait! Not the point! Again, why are you here?" 

She sighed. "Like I said, get in, we're going shopping. If I buy you a new wrench, will it shut you up?" 

"No." 

"Good to know. But seriously, let's leave before Hordak finds out I sent you here in the first place."

Entrapta nodded and hopped in the skiff. She then frowned and looked over at Catra curiously. "Why are you doing this?" 

There was a long pause before the woman got a response. "I was the one who got you sent here. I don't actually want you dead, or anything. I also told Hordak that you let the princesses into the Horde. I was sure he was going to kill me right on the spot, he was so mad." 

"Wait. There's just one thing I don't understand. Why was Hordak so upset in the first place?" 

"Uh, because he thought it was _you _that betrayed him, duh." 

"Why would it upset him so much if I betrayed him? I mean, sure he would be losing my help, which is very valuable, but he would be fine on his own." The woman smiled briefly. "He's very smart." 

Catra looked back at Entrapta, opened her mouth to speak, closed it, opened it again, and simply shook her head.

"I'm not getting into that." 

*****

A week before Glimmer's coronation, Adora left with an apologetic smile and a promise to be back in three days.

The girl found a way of communication the day after she left, which quickly reassured her friends.

"How are you?" Bow asked, slightly unsettled by the looks she kept shooting at someone behind her shoulder. 

"I'm either going to die of annoyance from Swiftwind, or I'm going to kill Light Hope."

"Why?" 

"So you both know how I'm not from Etheria, right?" 

They both nodded.

"Right. Okay, so- SWIFTWIND STOP EATING ALL THE APPLES- so apparently Light Hope knew who my parents are. And she didn't tell me... so now I need to find them, or at least something about them." 

"Please be back soon!" was Glimmer's reply.

"Don't worry, I will." 

Adora called again the next day, positively raging. 

"I'm going to kill her." 

"Okay, as much as I understand your frustration because she truly is a terrible person at this point, you'll never forgive yourself if you kill her. Also, that's illegal. Nobody said you can't harm her, though!" Bow said, possibly a bit too energetically.

"I don't think she even counts as a person though, remember?" Adora sighed. 

Poor Bow just looked confused. "I mean... no? I mean yeah, her hair is weird and she definitely doesn't look fully human, but she has pretty normal looking eyes and body and acts like a person so I think she counts? Unless I missed something here." 

"Okay, what? Hair? Eyes? Where are you getting this from?" 

He stared back at his friend, confused. "I've known this girl for maybe a year, and definitely not for good reasons, and yet I can definitely tell you that she has _hair, _Adora!" 

Adora blinked blankly at him, turned to look behind her shoulder for a second, then turned back to him, staring.

"I'm starting to get the feeling that we aren't talking about the same person here. Who are you talking about?" 

"Catra!" he yelled, shaking his head. "Who are you talking about?" 

"Light Hope! I'm so confused... I thought you were saying that Light Hope had hair... congratulations, you confused me out of my anger." 

Bow winked. "It's what I do best." 

*****

Glimmer's coronation was a much bigger deal than she'd like it to be.

Thousands upon thousands of people sitting outside, blankets spread out on the ground to sit on, food and drinks all around, little children running around as they played, well dressed people refusing to sit down on the ground, as if afraid to get their fancy clothes dirty, gossip flying all around, teenagers near the age of Glimmer herself talking amongst each other as they eagerly waited for the other princesses to arrive. 

Princess Perfuma, smiling sweetly at guests and handing out flowers to anyone who asked for it, laid out a blanket of her own and took a seat, ignoring the people that had begun to stare. She was a princess, people were going to stare no matter what she did. 

Princesses Netossa and Spinnerela greeted the crowd briefly before going to sit down next to Perfuma. They eventually went on inside, though. 

Princess Mermista arrived soon after, linking arms with Seahawk. She waved at the crowd and immediately headed on inside. 

"Where's Glimmer?" 

"In the dressing room," Bow responded anxiously. "Who's all here, out of the princesses?" 

"Uh, I'm here, so's Seahawk but that's kinda obvious, Netossa and Spinnerela got here before me. So did Perfuma, by the way. I talked to Frosta earlier and she told me that she's gonna be here right after me. Why?" 

"No sign of Adora?" 

"No, why?" 

He sighed heavily. "Shit." 

"Hey, no fair!" Frosta's voice called out as walked into the room. She pointed an accusing finger at Bow. "How come he gets to curse and I don't?" 

"Because you're like, seven," Mermista told her. "We've gone over this before. What time is Adora supposed to be here?" 

"Uh, four days ago."

"And you chose now as a good time to think about it? Why didn't you go search for her before this?" 

"Because we've been in contact with her. Glimmer and I, I mean. I know that she's fine, but she's really late! I don't know if she'll make it on time."

Mermista crossed her arms. "Well, where is she?" 

As soon as she got the sentence out, the bedroom doors flung open.

"I'm here! I'm here! I'm so sorry, am I late?" 

In came Adora, face slightly bruised, sword in hand, and bag slung over her shoulder. 

"You're not late. Pretty close to it. Better go get fancied up though." 

"Who's here?" Glimmer yelled out from the dressing room. She only heard the doors open loudly. 

"Adora, Mermista, Frosta, and...." Bow trailed off.

"Bow?" 

"One sec!" he yelled back, pulling out his weapon of choice and aiming it at the random guy just casually standing in the room "Don't move!" 

"Adora, why does your friend look ready to kill me?" The guy asked, looking at Bow nervously. Bow's eyes flickered to Adora. 

"Do you know him?" 

She nodded. "Calm down, he's with me. I brought him with me... he's kinda why I'm so late." 

"Hey, I never asked you to-" 

"Yeah well you're here now. Anyway. Now that we've established that-" 

"Ws haven't established anything!" Frosta protested, ice starting to form at her fingertips as she said the words. She looked ready to fling all the ice in the world at him. "What's your name?" 

"Um, I'm Adam."

"Adam who?" 

"That's not important right now," Adora interrupted. Adam glared at her.

"I would say our-" 

"Anyway! What dress did Glimmer end up picking?" 

Bow shrugged. "She's taking so long that we might never find out. Glimmer, it's almost time to start, we gotta go!" 

Glimmer nodded as she walked out of the dressing room. She wore a light purple dress. It hit her knees, but there was a train on it that gracefully flowed behind her. She spun around slowly yet confidently, knowing her friends would want her to show it off. She then sat down in a nearby chair, put some matching heels on, and began walking around the room.

She went to look at a mirror and smiled slightly as she looked at the reflection staring back at her. She looked, confident, strong, and ready to take on the world. And if not the world, then at the very least, she was ready to take on her own coronation.

Glimmer walked back over to her friends and smiled as she spoke.

"What do you think?" 

The group of friends glanced around at each other and back at her, thinking of what to say and who should be the first to say it.

It was Adora, finally, who broke the silence.

"You look just like your mom." 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope this was okay!! 
> 
> Little to no editing because I spent over 3 hours writing this, and it's like 2 AM where I am now, sorry.


End file.
